Position Paper of the People’s Republic of China On Resolving the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

2023-11-30 

The current Palestinian-Israeli conflict has caused heavy civilian casualties and a serious humanitarian disaster. It is a grave concern of the international community. President Xi Jinping stated China’s principled position on the current Palestinian-Israeli situation on a number of occasions. He stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire and ending the fighting, ensuring that the humanitarian corridors are safe and unimpeded, and preventing the expansion of the conflict. He pointed out that the fundamental way out of this lies in the two-state solution, building international consensus for peace, and working toward a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question at an early date.

Pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council shoulders primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and should thus play an active and constructive role on the question of Palestine. In this connection, China offers the following proposals:

1. Implementing a comprehensive ceasefire and ending the fighting. Parties to the conflict should truly implement the relevant UNGA and UNSC resolutions and immediately realize a durable and sustained humanitarian truce. Building on UNSC Resolution 2712, the Security Council, in response to the calls of the international community, should explicitly demand a comprehensive ceasefire and end of the fighting, work for deescalation of the conflict, and cool down the situation as soon as possible.

2. Protecting civilians effectively. The UNSC resolution demands in explicit terms that all parties comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians. It is imperative to stop any violent attacks against civilians and violations of international humanitarian law, and avoid attacks on civilian facilities. The Security Council should further send a clear message on opposing forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population, preventing the displacement of Palestinian civilians, and calling for the release of all civilians and hostages held captive as soon as possible.

3. Ensuring humanitarian assistance. All relevant parties must, as per requirements of the UNSC resolution, refrain from depriving the civilian population in Gaza of supplies and services indispensable to their survival, set up humanitarian corridors in Gaza to enable rapid, safe, unhindered and sustainable humanitarian access, and avoid a humanitarian disaster of even greater gravity. The Security Council should encourage the international community to ramp up humanitarian assistance, improve the humanitarian situation on the ground, and support the coordinating role of the United Nations as well as the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) in humanitarian assistance, and prepare the international community for supporting post-conflict reconstruction in Gaza.

4. Enhancing diplomatic mediation. The Security Council should leverage its role in facilitating peace as mandated in the UN Charter to demand that parties to the conflict exercise restraint to prevent the conflict from widening and uphold peace and stability in the Middle East. The Security Council should value the role of regional countries and organizations, support the good offices of the UN Secretary General and the Secretariat, and encourage countries with influence on parties to the conflict to uphold an objective and just position so as to jointly play a constructive role in deescalating the crisis.

5. Seeking political settlement. According to relevant UNSC resolutions and international consensus, the fundamental settlement of the question of Palestine lies in the implementation of the two-state solution, restoration of the legitimate national rights of Palestine, and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty based on the 1967 border and with east Jerusalem as its capital. The Security Council should help restore the two-state solution. A more broad-based, authoritative and effective international peace conference led and organized by the UN should be held as soon as possible to formulate a concrete timetable and roadmap for the implementation of the two-state solution and facilitate a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine. Any arrangement on the future of Gaza must respect the will and independent choice of the Palestinian people, and must not be imposed upon them.

‘Controlling reality’
Sociologist Jennifer Earl on the many faces of repression — and what can be done to resist them

November 29, 2023

 Source: Meduza

In Russia, where nearly anything can lead to criminal prosecution, repression affects an increasing number of people. Jennifer Earl, a sociology professor at the University of Delaware whose research on repression is among the most respected and cited in the field, has spent over 20 years studying the mechanics of repression. Earl calls for a wider than usual understanding of repression, explaining that threats to society come not only from the government, but also from private entities. Just before the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions in Russia, Meduza Special Correspondent Margarita Liutova spoke with Earl about the various forms of repression in Russia and around the world — and what society can do to resist them.

Defining repression

While many scholars of repression focus on state violence, Jennifer Earl prefers a definition of repression that encompasses any actions that “raise the costs” of organizing or “actually constrain or influence the ability to act.” Taking a broader view of who engages in repression, she looks not only at governments but also at private actors. “It gets riskier and riskier not to notice the important role that companies and private organizations are playing in repression, because that role is becoming bigger over time and certainly more complex,” she explains.

Private entities engaged in repression can take the form of mercenary organizations, such as Russia’s Wagner Group. But companies selling surveillance technology to states and private actors fall into this category, as well. “Private companies are allowed to grab a very large amount of information about individuals and then begin to collect and organize that information so that what a company may know about an individual can be much more substantial than individuals realize,” explains Earl. “And then that can be bought and sold or fed into services.”

This information can be used for a variety of purposes, including creating targeted Facebook ads, which push offensive content to people in order to induce “a sense of distaste” that encourages them to disengage from politics.

Influencing the amount of dissent and the way in which it is expressed is what Earl refers to as “channeling.” This could be through the creation of systems for “voicing discontent in more manageable ways” that are easier for the authorities to contain, react to, and control. “What essentially that does as a state government is say, ‘We’re willing to listen, but only if you speak in this way,’” Earl explains. “And that is a way of controlling how people engage in activism.” Another example of “channeling” could be the implementation of laws that provide “tax advantages to organizations that do not engage in certain kinds of political activity

Repressive capacity

Repressive actions aren’t limited to autocracies. “Democracies hold a lot of repressive capacity,” Earl tells Meduza. “They just don’t necessarily use it as much as more authoritarian nations, although they certainly have the ability to use it — and they do.” At the same time, she notes that democracies generally don’t wield their repressive capacity as regularly or to the same extant as authoritarian governments. “It’s a different thing to live in North Korea, China, or Russia than to live in Britain, France, or the U.S.,” she underscores.

In order to properly understand repression, Earl stresses the importance of looking at a government’s administrative capacity rather than simply whether it’s democratic or authoritarian. “If you’re investing in your military, if you’re investing in local policing heavily, you have repressive capacity,” she explains, adding that investment in digital monitoring and surveillance technologies is another key indicator.

The more administrative capacity you have, the [more] quickly that can turn into repressive capacity, whether you’re a democracy or an authoritarian state.

The U.S. authorities, for example, took measures to restrict protest in response to unrest caused by the 2016 presidential election and the Black Lives Matter protests. At the time, those supporting restrictions on protest in the U.S. argued that it was “more important to have law and order and control than to have a voice.”

RUSSIA’S ‘FEAR DICTATORSHIP’Putin’s ‘fear dictatorship’ Political scientist Daniel Treisman on the state of Russia’s autocracy

Calculating the costs of repression

How do repressive actors decide to engage in repression? They may engage in a cost benefit analysis when deciding how to best achieve a goal. This could include calculating the cost of financing the military and police to carry out repressive work, explains Earl. What’s more, there are potential costs in terms of the repressor’s international reputation and there’s always a risk of repressions backfiring, resulting in more protests, rather than less.

But Earl doesn’t think that this can fully explain how actors decide whether to engage in repression, because it “may be assuming the ability to calculate things that are not calculable.” Instead, she suggests the role of perceived weakness.

[According to this school of thought,] the exercise of repression is in some ways performative. And so as a power holder, one would not want to perform repression and fail because you would actually make your appearance weaker. And some have argued that that makes repressive actors particularly likely to go after weaker groups or people so that they can have the performative success.

Others believe it is a probably a combination of the two: repressors find it easier to repress weaker groups but also respond to those who they perceive as posing a serious threat.

‘Political repression is a self-replicating machine’ What Belarus’s recent past can tell us about Russia’s future

‘Active measures’

In order to understand the motivation for repressive actors, Earl references Russian journalist Masha Gessen who has argued that people “misunderstand why Putin may say things that are objectively untrue.” Earl explains:

The exercise of saying something that is verifiably untrue but confidently putting it [out there] to be repeated and believed is itself an exercise of power. [It shows] that [what’s] much more powerful than controlling a government is controlling reality. […] You are showing that you have the ability to control what people do not just through carrots and sticks; […] that you have the ability to control how people understand the world.

Asked about whether misinformation campaigns are more effective than traditional censorship, given that many people in Russia believe Putin’s version of reality despite having access to verified information, Earl explains that they operate “in relationship to one another.” “Certainly disinformation campaigns benefit from some level of censorship,” she says. “Although they may be able to be effective even when censorship is pretty low.”

Recently, however, governments in many countries have realized that it’s nearly impossible to have complete control over information. This has led to “active measures campaigns,” Earl says. Realizing that information can’t be fully controlled, governments instead take advantage of how much information is out there and attempt to distract audiences or feed them disinformation. States often attempt to focus people’s limited attention and information consumption on non-political or very patriotic content, explains Earl.

“Active measure campaigns” work to promote favorable messaging, constructing a specific reality and demobilizing specific groups. Earl points to Russia’s influence campaigns in the U.S. as one salient example.

The Russian influence campaigns in the United States, for instance, appear largely to be about using polarization not to support one actor versus another, but rather to create more disagreement between actors. [This] has the benefit, from a Russian government perspective, of creating more tension, disagreement, [and] gridlock in American politics, and also moderating the influence of people who have less extreme views.

At the same time, some Russia experts argue that disinformation spread by Putin or the government is not intended to construct another reality, but rather to convince people that there is no truth at all. This, in turn, convinces people that they shouldn’t believe anyone — especially not independent media outlets, which the Russian authorities paint as Western agents.

In Early’s opinion, “not believing anything is a very demobilizing point of view.” In the absence of anything trustworthy, she explains, people may begin to “substitute [their] own personal experience as a totalizing truth,” which would have its own set of consequences.

Repression is often much more effective in preventing people from engaging in certain actions or making them ignore repressors altogether. Engaging in the opposite — attempting to induce certain actions through repression — is much more difficult, as seen in the challenges Russia faced during their efforts to mobilize recruits to fight in Ukraine.

THE ROLE OF RUSSIA’S JUSTICE SYSTEM IN POLITICAL REPRESSION

‘It’s Stalinist logic’ Three experts explain the escalating nature of Russia’s political repressions

‘As a repressor, you’re rolling the dice’

There is a substantial amount of research into the causes of repression, explains Earl, but research on its actual deterrence ability has been much more limited. There are still questions about whether repression is actually successful in stopping people from engaging in undesirable activities or if it instead radicalizes them or even brings previously uninvolved people into the conflict.


As a repressor, you’re rolling dice on what happens when you repress. There is a possibility that you succeed in your repressive goals and deter people from participating. There is also a very real chance that some of the people who experience repression become more committed to their cause by virtue of the experience of repression. And there’s a very real risk that other people in your country or around the world observe that repression and become supporters of that cause when they weren’t already supporters before.

When repression backfires, continuing to repress can become a riskier course of action, given concern that it can cause a situation to further deteriorate. That’s why finding ways to make sure repressive actions backfire is key to making repressors “think twice before repressing.”

As for the feeling of helplessness among people in authoritarian states such as Russia, Earl says that this is the exact aim of authoritarianism. “What you often see in authoritarian nations is periods of quiescence ended by periods of mass mobilization when there was an appetite building for backfire,” she says. “But it all needed to come together in a particular moment.” Referencing the recent protests in Iran and the Arab Spring, Earl says that particularly repressive incidents can suddenly catalyze protests, even in the face of ongoing repression:

Looking at mobilization as the only indicator of the potential for backfire is like looking at the surface of the ocean and not knowing that there are currents.

These currents, which can take the form of underground networks, are capable of going unnoticed by repressive actors. Earl stresses the importance of supporting any such initiatives which help build capacity to create “a much bigger wave” and cause future instances of repression to backfire.

‘A very grim portrait’ Political scientist Erica Frantz on what Russia’s future holds after Putin

Interview by Margarita Liutova

Adapted for Meduza in English by Sasha Slobodov

UK

Cumbrian stone-age caves and ancient woodland for sale

28th November 2023, 

H&H Land & Estates  In the 1990s the area hosted parties known as "rave in the cave"

An area of land that includes stone-age caves and ancient woodland has been put up for sale in Cumbria.

Kirkhead Caves, near Lower Allithwaite, is a scheduled monument where ancient animal bones, late Bronze Age pottery and flint tools have been excavated.

The nine-acre plot, which includes Kirkhead wood, has been allowed to rewild for 25 years.

H&H Land & Estates said the owners are selling it to "someone else who would cherish and look after it".

A spokesperson for the estate agent said the land, which has been listed at a starting price of £100,000, had been with a family for 35 years.

Kirkhead Caves is one of three known Palaeolithic cave sites in Cumbria.

Greenlane Archaeology director Dan Elsworth said Kirkhead was "particularly well known for its caves, especially its largest, known as Kirkhead Cave"

.Waterfall and woodland in ice age valley for sale

Prehistoric caves sold to hotel and leisure firm

Cave remains belong to 'oldest northerner'

Mr Elsworth said the caves contained some of the oldest evidence for human activity in the north-west of England.

"It was first investigated by antiquarians - the forerunners of modern archaeologists - in the late 19th Century, who found ancient animal bones and evidence for human activity from the prehistoric period onwards," he explained.

"Unfortunately, the excavation techniques used at that time were pretty basic and fairly destructive. But excavation in the 1960s revealed flint tools and animal bones indicating that it had been occupied at the end of the last ice age, over 10,000 years ago."

H&H Land & Estates described Kirkhead wood as an "ancient semi-natural, deciduous woodland".

Its director, Mark Barrow, said: "These woodlands and its caves have given sanctuary and enormous pleasure to many generations, and there will undoubtedly be a great deal of interest in securing them for generations to come."

H&H Land & Estates said the land had been allowed to rewild for 25 years

According to the owners, the caves were used as a venue for parties in the 1990s, known fondly by party-goers as "rave in the cave".

 

Australia to ban disposable vape imports as questions build over UK rules

Published: 28 Nov 2023

Australia has announced that it will ban imports of single-use disposable vapes from January.

Import restrictions will then be placed on all non-therapeutic vapes from March, Australian health secretary Mark Butler announced on Tuesday.

Referring to sweet-flavoured vapes and colourful branding, he added: “This is not a therapeutic good to help hardened smokers kick the habit. 

“This is a good that is deliberately targeted at kids to recruit them to nicotine addiction.”

This marks the first step by the country to clamp down on vaping, with concerns having been raised both about its appeal to children and the environmental damage caused as single-use products are thrown away.

Given similar concerns in the UK, tobacco giant British American Tobacco PLC (LSE:BATS) and vapes distributor Supreme PLC (AIM:SUP) have both this week said they would back tougher regulation on vaping.

These calls come as the industry awaits the results of a public consultation on e-cigarette regulation, due next week.

“We want confectionery, dessert and soft drink flavours to be banned and the introduction of a new regime for how and where vapes are sold,” BAT said in a press release on Monday.

Supreme, meanwhile, said it would support changes to legislation, including around branding which could appeal to children, but also to enact tougher rules on vape retailers.

“As an industry leader, Supreme acknowledges the wider concerns of youth vaping and remains fully supportive of any proactive measures [...] that potentially restricts specific products, packaging, flavours or point of sale in the UK,” the firm said on Tuesday.

According to the government, over 20% of 11 to 17 year-olds in the UK have at least tried a vape this year.

Given concern that this figure will only rise, both BAT and Supreme have acknowledged this week that tougher rules should be in place, but said such products should be treated as complementary to a long-term smoking ban.

Both indeed gain hefty incomes from selling such products, with Supreme reporting a 32% rise in revenue from its vape division to £42.1 million for the full-year on Tuesday, including through the distribution of widely stocked disposable brands ElfBar and Lost Mary.

“We are confident that the government will seek to strike a sensible balance between addressing the recent environmental and underage vaping concerns whilst also not slowing down their efforts to become a smoke-free country by 2030,” Supreme added.

 UK

First ad campaign for Four Roses bourbon

By David Shrimpton in Alcohol 28th November 2023

Four Roses bourbon has launched its first-ever consumer advertising campaign.

The £400,000 digital outdoor and social media push is entitled “Don’t Mention It” and will initially focus on the UK’s two bourbon-selling hotspots, London and Manchester.

The campaign kicked off with a seven-metre spray-painted wall in Shoreditch, east London, that was “mock-vandalised” to cover up the brand name and spark a sense of discovery among consumers.

Jane Bulankina, head of marketing at distributor Spirit Cartel, said: “We’ve managed to build a strong and knowledgeable base of core drinkers for Four Roses. Now’s the time to speak to a wider, younger audience.”

Further activity is planned for 2024.

Wholesale and cash and carry stockists of Four Roses (40% ABV) include Booker and LWC.

It comes with an RRP of £25.99 for a 700ml bottle.

Reform UK Party taken apart over inaccurate and bizarre climate science denial video

Hannah Davenport Today

"Man catastrophically fails GCSE biology”



The leader of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party has been rinsed over a video he posted on X in which he attempts to “challenge the climate change nonsense” by making a scientifically false claim which viewers have argued a primary school pupil could debunk.

In what has been described as a bizarre and “eye-watering stupid” 41 second climate denial rant, leader of the right-wing populist political party, Richard Tice, attempts to claim that C02 is “plant food” and therefore “not a problem”.

“C02, people make out that it’s some sort of poison,” says Tice in the video. “It’s not. It’s plant food. It’s responsible for photosynthesis, without which we get no plants, no food, we all die. You’ve got to challenge the mainstream narrative on this.”

Scientists have proven how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increases by 50% due to human activities in less than 200 years, and that C02 in the atmosphere is responsible for warming the planet, therefore causing climate change.

Viewers were quick to add a bit of context in the community notes under the video on X, which read: “CO2 is not regarded as a toxic pollutant and this has never been a part of the scientific case for reducing our emissions. Although the proportion of atmospheric CO2 is small, its effect on climate is well understood and backed up by an overwhelming scientific consensus.”

Though Tice’s scientific illiteracy is also amusing, there is of course a huge danger in his spread of disinformation, as ‘Tice’s take’ on the climate attempts to legitimise further the continued drilling for new gas and oil.

This is particularly revealing when you look at the funders to Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, which received a total of £135,000 from climate science deniers and fossil fuel interests in 2023.

While all of Reform’s funders in 2023 were found to have oil and gas investments or ties to climate science denial, as revealed by the climate disinformation site DeSmog, helping to put Tice’s video into context.

As one X user wrote: “Richard Tice is a property developer with a degree in construction economics and quantity surveying …. the notion that he knows more about climate change than the overwhelming consensus of scientists and science is bunkum.”

Green Party politician, Tom Scott wrote on X: “Just to put Richard Tice’s eye-wateringly stupid climate science denial rant into context: *All* the funders of the Reform UK Party in 2023 have major oil & gas investments or ties to climate science denial.”

Or as one scientist responded: “Man catastrophically fails GCSE biology.”

In an attempt to delegitimise the importance of C02 in the atmosphere, Tice goes on to say in the video how the chemical compound makes up 0.04% of 1% in the atmosphere, which he then compared to “one limb” in Wembley Stadium full of 100,000 people.

Which a math biologist also debunks: “In this wild video, Richard Tice makes lots of scientifically unsupported claims. Without doubt my favourite is that 0.04% is like “one limb on one person in Wembley Stadium of 100,000 people” I’ve no idea where the “one limb” thing comes from, but 0.04% of 100,000 is 40.”

Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues

UK
Michael Gove suggests to Covid-19 inquiry that virus was ‘man-made’


Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove floated the theory at the Covid-19 inquiry that the virus was ‘man-made’ (UK Covid-19 Inquiry/PA)

By Sophie Wingate, Jonathan Bunn and David Hughes, 

PA Political Staff

Today

Michael Gove was slapped down at the official inquiry into the pandemic when he suggested there is a “significant body of judgment” that believes Covid-19 was “man-made”.

The Levelling Up Secretary went further than any Cabinet minister so far in questioning the virus’s origins – still a matter of intense scientific debate – as he explained the challenges faced by the Government as the crisis unfolded in 2020.

Asked about shortcomings in preparedness for a new virus, the senior Tory said: “There is a significant body of judgment that believes that the virus itself was man-made, and that presents challenges as well.”



Hugo Keith KC said the ‘divisive’ issue of Covid-19’s origins is not part of the inquiry’s terms of reference 

(UK Covid-19 Inquiry/YouTube/PA)

He was quickly cut off by Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, who said the “divisive” issue is not part of the inquiry’s terms of reference.

“We’re not going to go there,” he said.

Mr Gove replied that it is “important to recognise that the virus presented a series of new challenges that required … the science to adjust”.

Covid-19’s origins are still being examined nearly four years after the first cases emerged in Wuhan in China.

Some believe the virus accidentally leaked from a laboratory in the city which was looking into similar viruses.

But many scientists say the weight of evidence suggests a natural origin – the virus spreading from animals to humans via Wuhan’s wet food markets – is the most likely scenario

The Government’s view is that the WHO needs to continue to examine all possibilities

Spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

Downing Street said the Government’s position is for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to investigate the genesis of the virus.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said: “The Government’s view is that the WHO needs to continue to examine all possibilities.

“We think there is still work to be done. But it is for the WHO to investigate.”

It is the “long-standing position of the Government” that it is for the WHO to “consider all possible avenues and to come to a conclusion”.

The spokesman acknowledged it is not a secret that “people have differing views about the origins of Covid-19”.

The WHO’s first origins study in China in early 2021 was inconclusive, with difficulties in collaborating with Beijing cited as part of the reason.

Scientists offered their assessment after Mr Gove waded into the debate.

A lab leak is not the same as the leak of a ‘man-made’ virus, but is frequently confused

Professor James Wood, University of Cambridge

Professor James Wood, infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge, said: “There is strong evidence from virus genomics that the Covid-19 virus was not artificially engineered, or made by humans, but likely arose from another virus infecting wildlife.”

He said epidemiology can only identify where cases are first transmitting – which appeared to be around the Hunan seafood market – not where the first case may have occurred.

“With current knowledge, it is clear that some species of animal, e.g. ferrets and other mustelids, may be easily infected by infected humans in close contact. So animals in the market could have been the route of transmission to animals or could have been infected by humans.

“Genomics cannot however distinguish whether the virus transmitted to humans via traded wildlife in the Hunan seafood market or through a laboratory accident, where a laboratory worker was inadvertently infected from a sample they were processing, subsequently infecting other people. A lab leak is not the same as the leak of a ‘man-made’ virus, but is frequently confused.”

He added that it may never be possible to know with confidence how the Covid-19 virus passed to humans.

There is no data to support a man-made origin

Professor Alice Hughes, University of Hong Kong

Professor Alice Hughes, from the University of Hong Kong’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “There may be a body of judgment, but sadly this has come from a political and not a scientific basis…

“There is no data to support a man-made origin, whilst the infections of mink and other wildlife highlight the ability of the virus to jump between hosts, and similar viruses circulating in wildlife highlight that, like the majority of viruses, Covid is almost certain to have a natural origin.”

UK

Shrewsbury Prison to be turned into boutique hotel

28th November 2023, 

By Maisie Olah

BBC News, West Midlands

Shrewsbury Prison will be turned into a 20-bed boutique hotel

A former prison that has featured in TV dramas and celebrity reality show Banged Up is to become a hotel.

The old HMP Shrewsbury site will have 20 bedrooms and a restaurant, with owners saying guests will get to explore the building's past.

Talks about the Grade II-listed jail becoming a hotel first took place in 2014, a year after inmates moved out.

Chief executive Joel Campbell says the project is about "preserving a piece of history".

Immersive experiences on offer when the hotel opens include Prison Break, where guests don orange jumpsuits and try to escape from their cell.

The redevelopment of the historic jail - built in 1793 - also includes a 72-space car park with provisions for EV charging, accessible parking and bike racks.

Many events will happen inside converted jail including Prison Break, where guests will try to escape from their cell

There will also be conference facilities available.

A prison spokesperson said conversion work had begun at the back of the site on Monday.

They said the building was "expanding and evolving" and that the hotel was an added extra to the prison.

It is not the first prison in the UK to be re-modelled as a hotel.

'Honour the past'

Back in 2005, the 11th Century former jail in the middle of Oxford was converted into a Malmaison hotel.

More recently, the Malmaison was criticised for becoming a destination for social media influencers to take their selfies, Business Insider reported.

And after the firm that took over Bodmin Jail when it shut went into administration in 2009, it was converted into a hotel.

Guests there can now enjoy a Dark Walk Experience, as part of the recently opened £8.5m immersive visitor experience.


Mr Campbell, boss of Cove Group, first purchased a short-term lease on Shrewsbury prison in 2015 and said it would be a "thrilling venture".

"This project is not just about preserving a piece of history; it's about redefining the visitor experience," he said.

"I am excited to see how this development will not only honour the past but also pave the way for a new era of sustainable tourism."

UPDATED

Everything is political™: Ancient sculptures edition

November 28, 2023

Alex Kliment

Detail of a metope that forms part of the Parthenon sculptures, sometimes referred to in the UK as the Elgin Marbles, is displayed at the British Museum in London, Britain, January 25, 2023.

 REUTERS/Toby Melville

Sometimes life imitates art. Sometimes art imitates life. And sometimes — sometimes — art actually screws up a summit between two European heads of state. This week, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak abruptly canceled a meeting with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis after the Greek leader demanded the return of the so-called “Elgin marbles” in a BBC interview. London says the Greeks had promised not to raise the issue. Athens denies this.

What are the Elgin marbles? A set of sculptures from the Parthenon, the famous ancient Greek temple in Athens. They have been on display at the British Museum since the 19th century, after a visiting British nobleman – Lord Elgin – plucked them off the badly neglected and half-wrecked Parthenon, which at the time was under Ottoman rule.

The government of modern Greece has long demanded their return to Athens. But the British have refused. Elgin, they say, had Ottoman permission to remove the artworks, which would otherwise have suffered further neglect and destruction. The British Museum, for its part, says it’s willing to share certain pieces but not return them officially. Although Greece was never under British rule, the Elgin marbles debate has echoed broader questions about whether European museums should return items taken or stolen from Africa and elsewhere during the colonial period. The British in general have been especially opposed to doing so.

Is Sunak OK? Still, canceling a meeting that was meant to focus on “Gaza, Ukraine, climate, and migration” seems distinctly unartful. It’s true that Sunak’s Conservative Party has long been especially adamant that the sculptures should stay in England. And yes, the PM is struggling with a sluggish economy and a big split within his party over immigration. But the Parthenon sculptures are hardly red meat for his base, and in any event, Athens has reportedly been nearing a compromise with the British Museum.

The best expanation we’ve seen: a text message that someone on the EU commission evidently sent to our Eurasia Group pal Mujtaba Rahman: “Has Sunak lost his marbles?”

Greek officials angry and puzzled after 

UK’s Sunak scraps leaders’ meeting over 

Parthenon Marbles



Visitors look at ancient sculptures that are part of the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum in London, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. Greek officials said Tuesday Nov. 28, 2023 that they will continue talks with the British Museum on bringing the Parthenon Marbles back to Athens, despite U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelling a meeting with his Greek counterpart where the contested antiquities were due to be discussed.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)Read More


A visitor takes pictures of sculptures that are part of the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum in London, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. Greek officials said Tuesday Nov. 28, 2023 that they will continue talks with the British Museum on bringing the Parthenon Marbles back to Athens, despite U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelling a meeting with his Greek counterpart where the contested antiquities were due to be discussed.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)


A visitor walks past ancient sculptures that are part of the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum in London, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. Greek officials said Tuesday Nov. 28, 2023 that they will continue talks with the British Museum on bringing the Parthenon Marbles back to Athens, despite U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelling a meeting with his Greek counterpart where the contested antiquities were due to be discussed.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)


Visitors look at ancient sculptures that are part of the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum in London, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. Greek officials said Tuesday Nov. 28, 2023 that they will continue talks with the British Museum on bringing the Parthenon Marbles back to Athens, despite U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelling a meeting with his Greek counterpart where the contested antiquities were due to be discussed.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

BY JILL LAWLESS AND DEREK GATOPOULOS
November 28, 2023

LONDON (AP) — Greek officials said Tuesday that they will continue talks with the British Museum about bringing the Parthenon Marbles back to Athens, despite U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak abruptly canceling a meeting with his Greek counterpart where the contested antiquities were due to be discussed.

But the U.K. government said ownership of the marbles is “settled” — and they’re British.

The two European allies traded barbs Tuesday in a deepening diplomatic row that erupted when Sunak called off a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hours before it was due to take place.

Mitsotakis had planned to raise Greece’s decades-old demand for the return of the ancient sculptures when he met Sunak at 10 Downing St. on Tuesday. The two center-right leaders were also slated to talk about migration, climate change and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.


How a group of ancient sculptures sparked a dispute between Greece and the UK

Diplomatic spat over the Parthenon Marbles scuttles meeting of British and Greek leaders

Mitsotakis was instead offered a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, which he declined.

British officials were annoyed that Mitsotakis had appeared on British television Sunday and compared the removal of the sculptures from Athens to cutting the Mona Lisa in half.

Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain, said Mitsotakis had reneged on a promise not to talk publicly about the marbles during his three-day visit to Britain.

“The Greek government provided reassurances that they would not use the visit as a public platform to relitigate long-settled matters relating to the ownership of the Parthenon Sculptures,” he said. “Given those assurances were not adhered to, the prime minister felt it would not be productive” to have the meeting.

The Greek government denied Mitsotakis had agreed not to raise the subject in public.

Mitsotakis met Monday in London with U.K. opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, whose party leads Sunak’s governing Conservatives in opinion polls. The prime minister’s office denied that meting had contributed to Sunak’s decision to cancel.

Dimitris Tsiodras, head of the Greek prime minister’s press office, said Mitsotakis was angry at the “British misstep.”

“Of course he was angry ... Look, Greece is a proud country. It has a long history. Mitsotakis represents that country,” Tsiodras told private network Mega television.

Opposition parties in Greece, from the Greek Communist Party and centrists to far-right nationalists, also condemned Sunak for the cancellation. Left-wing opposition leader Stefanos Kasselakis said the issue of the sculptures goes “beyond party differences.”

“It is a national issue that concerns the history of an entire people. And it is a moral issue concerning the shameless theft of cultural wealth from its natural setting,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Athens has long demanded the return of sculptures that were removed from Greece by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th century. Part of friezes that adorned the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple on the Acropolis, the Elgin Marbles – as they are known in Britain -- have been displayed at the British Museum in London for more than two centuries. The remainder of the friezes are in a purpose-built museum in Athens.

The British Museum is banned by law from giving the sculptures back to Greece, but its leaders have held talks with Greek officials about a compromise, such as a long-term loan.

Earlier this year, museum chairman George Osborne — Treasury chief in a previous Conservative U.K. government — said the discussions had been “constructive.”

Tsiodras said Tuesday that discussions “are ongoing with the British Museum for the return – I should say the reunification – of the marbles to Athens.”


“I don’t think the effort stops there,” he said. “Clearly, there are domestic reasons and 2024 is an election year and (Sunak) is quite behind in the polls ... but the discussion with the British Museum is ongoing.”

Sunak’s government appears to have hardened its position, however.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said that “the government set out its position about the Elgin Marbles very clearly, which is they should stay as part of the permanent collection of the British Museum.”

And Blain said that “a loan cannot happen without the Greeks accepting that the British Museum are the legal owners” of the antiquities.
___

Gatopoulos reported from Athens, Greece.

JILL LAWLESS  is an Associated Press reporter covering U.K. politics and more. She is based in London.

‘Elgin marbles important part of Greek heritage’ - expert

28 November 2023

Professor Amy Smith, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Reading, comments on the cultural and historical significance of the Elgin Marbles, following a row between the British and Greek governments over the collection of ancient Greek treasures.

Professor Amy Smith said: “By the late 18th century, the sanctuaries of Athena and other deities on Classical Athens’ Akropolis had become a ruin: a Venetian shell had hit Pheidias’ extraordinary Temple of Athena, a.k.a. the Parthenon, in September 1687, while it was being used by the Ottomans as a gunpowder store.

“For centuries before, in fact, visitors had been taking the Akropolis’ ancient marbles home with them. When 'Lord Elgin' (aka Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin) acquired and eventually sold to the British government Parthenon and related sculptures now displayed in the British Museum (and other foreign museums, e.g. the Louvre), with the idea that they might encourage British arts and crafts, the Ottoman authorities granted him ‘permission.’ 

“Now that Athens is governed by Greeks, it is natural that they want the ‘Elgin marbles’, which are an important part of their heritage, returned to them. The situation is obviously complicated and requires careful negotiations and creative solutions, like an exchange of artisans or artisanal skill to fulfil Elgin’s original aim to improve the arts of Britain.” 

What visitors to the British Museum 

think should happen to the Elgin Marbles

A diplomatic row erupted after Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with the Greek prime minister where the statues were due to be discussed

Athena Stavrou,Maira Butt

The Independent
1 day ago

The Elgin Marbles have been a source of diplomatic and cultural controversy since a row erupted over where the ancient artifacts should be homed.

Athens has long demanded the return of the historic works, also known as the Parthenon Sculptures, which were removed from Greece by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

A diplomatic row erupted on Tuesday after Rishi Sunak was accused of cancelling a meeting with the Greek prime minister at the 11th hour.

The diplomatic spat comes after Mr Mitsotakis had used an interview ahead of the anticipated talks to push for the return of the Elgin Marbles, saying the current situation was like the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half.

Visitors at the British Museum today demonstrated the clash of opinions - with some saying it’s like “cutting tower bridge in half” but others asking where the returning of artifacts would stop if they were to be returned.

Greek tourists visiting London told The Independent in front of the statues that they should be returned.

Greek-Cypriots Zoe, Rafaella and Stella say the statues 

‘mean a lot to Greek people’
(The Independent)

“It means a lot to Greek people. They should definitely go back to where they came from because to Greek people, it means a lot. It’s our history.” Zoe, 25, from Limassol, Cyprus said.

Her friend Rafaella, also 25, added: “I definitely think they should go back. It’s a part of Greek culture and therefore should be in Greece. I know that others want them here but in my opinion, I think they should be returned.”

Commenting on the British prime minister’s late cancellation, Stella, also a Greek-Cypriot said: “It’s weird that Sunak cancelled the meeting, we didn’t know he did that. Maybe it was on purpose that it got cancelled? It was very last minute.”

On the other hand, Jullianne Jollie, 58, from the Wirral says she has changed her mind about where the statues should be homed.

Julliane Jolie says she is concerned whether returning the marbles will set a precedent
(The Independent)

“I’ve gone from thinking they absolutely should go back to thinking as time goes on that they shouldn’t,” The retired education publisher told The Independent.

“If you asked me 18 months ago I would have said yes but then when does it stop?

“The whole point of a museum is preservation for the future. I don’t know what the Greeks think about it but to be honest I think it’s good to see some Greek culture in London. Not everyone can go all the way to Greece.”

John Ransom said it ‘makes no sense’ that the heads of these statues remain in Athens
(The Independent)

John Ransom, 70, from Edgeware, London also has mixed opinions on the matter.

“Something says morally it should go back but then you’re setting a precedent for all of the countries to say they want their stuff back. If these things weren’t here we wouldn’t be standing in this museum,” he said.

“The British do have a habit of taking stuff or buying stuff but not for the right price. That seems to be a British tradition, unfortunately.

“It should be challenged and it’s right that it’s challenged. There are pieces over there that are missing their heads and that’s because the heads are in Athens. What sense does that make?

“How would we feel if they came over and started taking Tower Bridge? We wouldn’t like it if our heritage was stolen.”

Ersin Kurnaz says he had to go from Athens to London to see the other half of the Parthenon
(The Independent)

Another visitor to the museum, Ersin Kurnaz, 40, believes the statues must not feel at home in London.

He said: “I went to Athens not long ago and saw the Parthenon, it’s weird having to see half of it there and half of it here.

“I am Turkish but living in Germany. I think it’s similar in the sense that my origin will always be Turkey. When I’m in Turkey it’s a different feeling. It feels like home. I think it must be the same for the sculptures.”

Greek art historian Maria Paloma de Alvarado was also admiring the statues on Tuesday and said the debate was complex.

Greek art historian Maria Paloma de Alvarado said the fate of the statues may have been worse if they had not been bought by Lord Elgin
(The Independent)

“I believe yes, they should be returned. While they bought it legally it’s part of the Greek identity,” she said.

“There is a discussion here however because if Lord Elgin hadn’t had bought all of this it probably all would have disappeared.”

British Museum chairman George Osborne, a former chancellor, has previously said he is exploring ways for the Elgin Marbles to be displayed in Greece, with speculation that this could involve a loan deal in which part of the set would be sent to Athens.

But on Monday, the prime minister’s official spokesman stressed Mr Sunak’s support for the law that prevents the marbles from being permanently returned and suggested he would not be in favour of any loan arrangement.


The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed disappointment in Mr Sunak’s last-minute cancellation of their meeting.

In a statement published on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “Anyone who believes in the correctness and justice of their positions is never afraid of opposing arguments.”

Greece pushes back against claims its

 leader broke assurances over Elgin

 Marbles

No 10 said Rishi Sunak felt it would ‘not be productive’ to hold a meeting that could be ‘dominated’ by discussion about the sculptures.


GREEK PRIME MINISTER KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS CUT SHORT HIS TRIP TO TH

E UK AFTER RISHI SUNAK CANCELLED THEIR MEETING 

(JORDAN PETTITT/PA)

PA WIRE
PATRICK DALY

1 DAY AGO

Allies of the Greek premier have pushed back against claims that he broke an agreement not to use a UK visit as a “public platform” to demand the Elgin Marbles’ return.

Rishi Sunak scrapped face-to-face talks planned for Tuesday with Greek leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis after feeling he had rowed back on “reassurances” that he would avoid an open debate about the ownership of the ancient artefacts.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister feared any bilateral meeting in London was likely to be “dominated” by the marbles row after Mr Mitsotakis gave an interview on Sunday pressing for them to be returned by the British Museum to Athens.

The PA news agency understands that the Greek side disagrees with No 10’s characterisation of the situation as the diplomatic storm refused to abate.

It is our view that, for far too long, constant attempts to relitigate in public the long settled issue of the ownership of the marbles has cast a shadow over an otherwise productive relationship with Greece

PRIME MINISTER RISHI SUNAK'S OFFICIAL SPOKESMAN

Athens’ view is that the idea that Mr Mitsotakis would come to London and not respond to a question about the marbles, which are also known as the Parthenon Sculptures, in a BBC interview was nonsense.

It is understood the Greek prime minister plans to continue to raise the issue every time he comes to the UK, but he has never had the opportunity to discuss it in person with Mr Sunak.

Asked about Athens’ position on the interview, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Sunday’s comments had put the marbles “front and centre of the debate”.

“Obviously it is up to the Greek government the media they choose to do but, when they have provided reassurances that they will not seek to publicise this, we don’t think those assurances were adhered to,” he added.

Greece has long demanded the return of the historic works, which were removed from the Acropolis of Athens by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

No 10 said it had been keen to avoid a repeat of Mr Mitsotakis’s visit to the UK in 2021, when the Government felt he had used the trip as a “public platform” to press for the marbles’ return.

Mr Mitsotakis, ahead of that occasion two years ago when Boris Johnson was prime minister, had said the 17 figures “belong in the Acropolis Museum”.

Ahead of this week’s visit, Downing Street confirmed it “sought assurances” that similar public pronouncements would not be made.

But in an interview on Sunday, Mr Mitsotakis described the current situation as being akin to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half.

The comments appear to have annoyed No 10, with the Prime Minister’s spokesman telling reporters that Mr Sunak decided it would “not be productive” to go ahead with talks that had been scheduled for Tuesday.

The spokesman said: “It is our view that, for far too long, constant attempts to relitigate in public the long settled issue of the ownership of the marbles has cast a shadow over an otherwise productive relationship with Greece and that those conversations are best had in private.

“Those were the assurances that were provided to us in advance of this meeting.

“Those assurances were not adhered to and you saw the subsequent action that was taken.”

No 10 said it offered talks with Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden instead, but that goes against the usual protocol which would normally mean a visiting prime minister would meet Mr Sunak, rather than a more junior minister.

Greek minister Adonis Georgiadis said Mr Sunak had made a “bad choice” in scrapping the bilateral meeting.

He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: “It was a mistake. It was a bad day for our relationship. I hope that we will find a way out soon.”

Mr Georgiadis said Mr Mitsotakis, in his interview arguing for the return of the marbles, had expressed the view of the Greek people.

“Elgin stole the marbles, that is it,” he added.

In a strongly-worded statement on Monday, a spokesman for the Greek prime minister’s office said Mr Mitsotakis was “disappointed” and “extremely surprised” that his British counterpart had cancelled their meeting “at the 11th hour”.

A Greek source said they were particularly confused by Mr Sunak’s decision given that preventing migrant sea crossings — one of Mr Sunak’s top five priorities — was high on the agenda.

Along with discussing the sculptures, the Greek government said it had been hoping to also broach efforts to tackle climate change and challenges such as the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

British Museum chairman George Osborne, a former chancellor, has previously said he is exploring ways for the Elgin Marbles to be displayed in Greece, with speculation that this could involve a loan deal in which part of the set would be sent to Athens.

But Downing Street made clear that Mr Sunak continues to see the museum as the rightful place for them.

Ministers do not have plans to change the 1963 British Museum Act which prohibits the removal of objects from the institution’s collection, No 10 confirmed this week.

Labour criticised Mr Sunak’s decision to cancel his meeting with his Greek counterpart.

A party spokesman said: “To pick a fight with a Nato ally for the sake of a headline shows just how weak Rishi Sunak is.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer met Mr Mitsotakis on Monday before he opted to cut his trip short.

A readout of their talks did not mention the marbles but Sir Keir had indicated that, while he would tell the Greek premier a Labour government would not change the law, he would not stand in the way of a loan deal that was mutually acceptable.

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